Deal Castle

Deal Castle is a 16th-century coastal artillery fort, located in Deal, Kent, England, between Walmer Castle and the now lost Sandown Castle (grid reference TR378521). It is now in the care of English Heritage.

History

Construction

It is one of the most impressive of the Device Forts or Henrician Castles built by Henry VIII between 1539 and 1540 as an artillery fortress to counter the threat of invasion, brought about by the alliance between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King Francis I of France in 1538. Deal Castle and its smaller neighbours, Walmer and Sandown, were intended to dominate the Downs, a sheltered area of water in the southern North Sea protected by the Goodwin Sands, which would have been an ideal rallying point for any invasion fleet. The three forts were initially linked by an two mile long earthen "fosse" or rampart, strengthened by three small earth "bulwarks" or forts. These earthworks were sketched by the antiquarian William Stukeley in 1725, but now no trace of them remains. The architect at Deal was probably the Bohemian engineer, Stefan von Haschenperg. The whole scheme for the defence of the Downs was completed by the autumn of 1540.